Hubertus Aegidius Hermanus "Berry" van Aerle (; born 8 December 1962) is a Dutch former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played mainly as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

but also as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. A tough tackler, he was best known for his spell with PSV, which he helped capture the 1988 European Cup. A

Dutch international The Dutch International is an open international badminton tournament held in the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories i ...

for five years, he won the Euro 1988 tournament.

Club career

Born in

Helmond Helmond (; called ''Hèllemond'' in the local dialect) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Metropoolregio Eindhoven of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of ...

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

, van Aerle spent 13 years with

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

giants

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

, helping them to five leagues. During most of his spell, he also played as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

as the

slot was occupied by veteran Belgian Eric Gerets; incidentally, the Dutchman spent one year in that country, on loan to Royal Antwerp FC. Van Aerle played the entire

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the

1987–88 European Cup The 1987–88 European Cup was the 33rd season of the European Cup club football tournament. The competition was won for the first time by PSV Eindhoven, who defeated two-time winners Benfica in the final at Neckarstadion in Stuttgart. PSV becam ...

, won on penalties against S.L. Benfica after a 0–0 draw. "It wasn't a particularly good match, with both teams very cautious, but it was exciting until the end and a tense penalty shoot-out. It does not matter how you win it, just as long as you do. Now we're in the history books forever: we lifted that trophy", van Aerle told Berend Scholten on UEFA.com. After Gerets retired in 1992, he began dealing with several injuries but still managed to appear regularly, collecting more than 300 overall appearances until his departure; he was also one of five European players to ever achieve the feat of winning four competitions – three with their club and one with the national team – in the same year, the others being teammates

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Wim Kieft Willem Cornelis Nicolaas "Wim" Kieft (born 12 November 1962) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Kieft went into punditry in 2001, occasionally appearing on football talk show '' Voetbal Inside'' A prolific ...

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and Gerald Vanenburg. Eventually, van Aerle retired from play after one sole season with hometown's

Helmond Sport Helmond Sport () is a Dutch professional football club based in Helmond, North Brabant. Founded in 1967 following the acquisition of the professional license of , the club achieved promotion to the top-tier Eredivisie in 1982. After two seasons ...

. After working as a mailman in his hometown, he returned to PSV, where he served in several capacities (talent

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

, supporters coordinator).

International career

Van Aerle won his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

on 14 October 1987. In the following year's

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

, he was an undisputed starter as the national side lifted their first continental trophy, in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

(all matches and minutes). In total, van Aerle appeared in 35 games in exactly five years, also being selected for the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

and

Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having been inv ...

. During those years, he formed an efficient fullback partnership with Adri van Tiggelen, also his clubmate in the early 90s.

Honours

PSV *

: 1985–86, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1991–92 *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

: 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90 * Johan Cruijff Shield: 1992; runner-up 1991 *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

: 1987–88 Netherlands *

: 1988

References

External links

Beijen profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aerle, Berry Van 1962 births Living people Footballers from Helmond Dutch men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football midfielders Men's association football utility players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players PSV Eindhoven players UEFA Champions League–winning players Helmond Sport players Belgian Pro League players Royal Antwerp F.C. players Netherlands men's international footballers UEFA Euro 1988 players 1990 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1992 players UEFA European Championship–winning players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium 20th-century Dutch sportsmen